GriefWORDS
Griefwords Library
By Dr. Alan Wolfelt, Ph.D.
Grief: General
These thoughtful articles provide guidance and direction for anyone touched by grief.
Helping Yourself with Grief
Someone you love has died. You are now faced with the difficult, but important, need to mourn. Mourning is the open expression of your thoughts and feelings regarding the death and the person who died. It is an essential part of healing. The following articles provide many practical suggestions to help you move toward healing in your unique grief journey.
- You Must Say Hello Before You Say Goodbye
- You Must Make Friends with the Darkness Before You Can Enter the Light
- You Must Go Backward Before You Can Go Forward
- Mustering the Courage to Mourn
- Love and Grief: In Communion and Greater Than the Sum of Their Parts
- Will I Befriend My Feelings Or Will I Deny Them
- Will I Grieve Or Will I Mourn
- Helping Yourself Heal When Someone Dies
- Helping Yourself Heal When Your Child Dies
- Helping Yourself Heal When Your Spouse Dies
- Helping Yourself Heal When a Parent Dies
- Helping Yourself When a Baby Dies
- Helping Yourself Heal During the Holiday Season
- Helping Dispel 5 Common Myths About Grief
- Helping Yourself Live When You Are Seriously Ill
- Helping Yourself Live When You Are Dying
- Exploring the Uniqueness of Your Suicide Grief
- Healing Your Traumatized Heart: Seeking Safety, Understanding, and Peace Part 1
- Healing Your Traumatized Heart: Seeking Safety, Understanding, and Peace Part 2
- Healing Your Grieving Body: Physical Practices for Mourners
- The Spiritual Path to Healing: An Introduction
- The Spiritual Path to Healing: Mourning Ideas, Part 1
- The Spiritual Path to Healing: Mourning Ideas, Part 2
- The Spiritual Path to Healing: Mourning Ideas, Part 3
- The Spiritual Path to Healing: Mourning Ideas, Part 4
- Dispelling the Misconceptions About Suicide and Grief and Mourning
- The Capacity to Love Requires the Necessity to Mourn
- Helping Yourself Heal When an Adult Sibling Dies
- Helping Your Family Heal After Stillbirth
- Healing Your Grief About Getting Older
- Embracing the Sadness of Grief
- Helping a Friend or Family Member After a Cancer Diagnosis
- When Your Soulmate Dies
Helping Others with Grief
A friend has experienced the death of someone loved. How can you help? The following articles provide many practical suggestions for helping others with grief:
- Helping a Friend in Grief
- Helping a Man Who is Grieving
- Helping a Friend Who is Dying
- Helping a Friend Who is Seriously Ill
- Helping a Suicide Survivor Heal
- Helping a Homicide Survivor Heal
- Helping a Grandparent Who Is Grieving
- Helping a Grieving Friend in the Workplace
- Helping AIDS Survivors Heal
- Helping SIDS Survivors Heal
- Helping Your Family When a Member is Dying
- Helping Your Family When a Member is Seriously Ill
- Helping Your Family Cope When a Pet Dies
- Helping Your Family Decide if Organ and Tissue Donation is Right for You
- Helping a Friend or Family Member After a Cancer Diagnosis
- Helping Your Family Heal After Miscarriage
- Helping Yourself Heal When Someone You Care About Dies of a Drug Overdose
For and About Grieving Children and Teenagers
Children and teenagers have special needs following the death of a friend or family member. The following articles provide wonderful insight into helping children and teens understand and express their grief.
- Helping Children Cope with Grief
- Helping Teenagers Cope with Grief
- Helping Infants and Toddlers When Someone They Love Dies
- Helping Children with Funerals
- Helping Children Understand Cremation
- Helping a Child Who is Seriously Ill
- Helping a Child Who is Dying
- Helping Grieving Children at School
- Helping Bereaved Siblings Heal
- Finding the Right Words: Guidelines on how to talk to grieving children about death
Funerals, Memorials, Cremation and Related Topics
The days following the death of a loved one can be filled with sadness and confusion. The following articles can help you understand the importance of the rituals surrounding death.
For Hospices and Other Caregivers
Caregivers have special needs of their own. The following articles are designed to help caregivers take care of themselves as well as those who are suffering from loss.
- Companioning the Bereaved: An Introduction
- Tenet 1: Companioning Principle
- Tenet 2: Companioning Principle
- The Awesome Power of "Telling The Story": Why I'm Proud to be a Grief Counselor
- Caregiver as Gardener: A Parable
- Companioning vs. Treating: Beyond The Medical Model of Bereavement Caregiving
- Growing Through Grief: The Role of Support Groups
- Responding to Problems in the Support Group Setting
- The Bereavement Caregiver's Self-Care Guidelines
Online Grief Resources
The wonderful thing about technology is that it can bring people together from all over the globe to make it easier for you to find information and support networks in your time of need. The following are some of the tools available to assist you in your healing journey. If you’re still having trouble locating helpful information or finding what you need, contact us to discuss other resources and find a personalized solution to support you on the road to recovery.
Every month McCullough Funeral Home offers several Seasons of Hope grief support programs. These are open sessions led by McCullough’s continuing care coordinator, Joyce Hutcherson. Each meeting’s topic deals with some aspect of the grief journey. Please visit the Seasons of Hope page for further information and registration requirements.
Whether your family has had a child die (at any age, from any cause), or you are trying to help those who have gone through this life-altering experience, The Compassionate Friends exists to provide friendship, understanding, and hope to those going through the natural grieving process. Through a network of more than 625 chapters with locations in all fifty states, as well as Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico, The Compassionate Friends has been supporting bereaved families after the death of a child for four decades.
Every month McCullough Funeral Home offers several Seasons of Hope grief support programs. These are open sessions led by McCullough’s continuing care coordinator, Joyce Hutcherson. Each meeting’s topic deals with some aspect of the grief journey. Please visit the Seasons of Hope page for further information and registration requirements.
